6/12/24 countdown! Come on hip!

Here are some pics from the race!  Enjoy!  Another week of babying the unhappy hip and another week of some trigger point therapy OUCH.

Michael and I.  He works for a prison in Missouri helping prisoners get their GEDs!

Sunday after my race I could barely walk I was so sore.  My stupid hip was not happy yet again, but this time I could point to the exact muscles that were not happy, whereas after Chicago, I could not.  After having a rather painful session with Dr. Needles, I felt so much better.  Of course the trigger points he worked on were super sore, but overall, my hip felt loose and free!  Unfortunately, I found out that my insurance had changed and that I no longer had a co-pay with my chiro, so I will be paying for all visits out of pocket, until I hit my rather large deductible. Sigh.  Doesn't matter, that seems to be the only thing helping right now, so I guess I will go a little in debt getting this fixed.

Me yelling something to my group!

I decided to be cautious and give my hip a few days to recover.  Dr. Needles said I could run as soon as I wasn't feeling any pain at the walk.  Well, it was hard to tell the difference because the pain from trigger point session was pretty bad.  I could tell the front part of my hip felt better though and that felt thoroughly released.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to try a short run Thursday.  While the trigger points he worked on were very sore during the run, I felt fine post run.  We got four done, even if my watch says we didn't.

I also helped with girls on the run that afternoon.  I was really worried that my hip would be angered by any extra curricular activity.  At first, the girls were running and resting and didn't need me, but when they turned to just laps, I saw a few struggling and had to jump in.  Surprisingly, post running and even on Friday, my hip felt better (knocking on a huge piece of wood).  I still wasn't super sure of what type of long run to do for the weekend though that wouldn't anger the hip, but still would give me some sort of confidence leading into the timed ultra.  

Saturday Andrew and I had a full docket planned.  We had soccer (got canceled due to cold), a play date, and then an agility play date.  Many of the women who held andrew while I tried to run Deuce and do agility were going to be out at Alice's house (where I use to teach) and I wanted to see everyone. I also wanted to get a run in somewhere.  A short one.  I decided 3 or 4 miles would be perfect and the cold made it magical.  I sure do love running in cold weather, but a nice slow transition would have been nice ahem, KS.  Post running and play date, we headed out to the agility play date.  We signed up for one run and we just did individual obstacles.  Deuce forgot his release word a few times, but overall, he looked great!  Andrew tried his hand at handling and did pretty good!  It's hard for a 5 year old to think when the dog you are handling is so fast.  We need to find a slightly slower dog for andrew to learn with I think.

 

Post agility and throwing stuff for the dogs for hours, we headed out for a nice hike around the property. Deuce and Andrew loved walking and andrew walked for over an hour without a single complaint about walking.  It's a miracle!  Maybe we are ready for some hiking out at Konza!

pic curtesy of Jen!

Sunday I decided to do a few miles just to see what back to back runs felt like.  You know when you have an old injury and it's kind of still there but doesn't hurt per se?  That is what it felt like.  No pain just kind of tight and stiff.  I made sure to do a dynamic warm up and did all of my stretches post run. 

Stella had pouted the entire day before and into sunday, so she and I just had some girl time to ourselves :) . She was SO happy the entire run!  4 miles of her smiling and jumping and barking at me.

Well, not going to lie, after this week of again low mileage, getting pretty nervous about conquering 31 miles.  I wish my body would have let me do at least one long run post Chicago, but I guess I will have to settle for a 13 miler as my last long run before tapering yet again.  Fingers crossed that I can do this and finish!  Have a great week!